We are ready to face any probe: Chandy

Thiruvananthapuram, July 1 (IANS) Former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday welcomed a probe in the alleged bar scam and controversial land deals during his government.

His statement came as Director General of Police Jacob Thomas, the Vigilance chief, was on a mission mode to find out loopholes in the probe conducted earlier by his department in the two controversial deals.

Addressing reporters here, Chandy said he welcomed any probe as the major campaign during the state assembly election campaign centred around corruption.

“Yes, let them go ahead with their work. During the election campaign the then Left opposition had said they would scrutinise 800 decisions that we had taken at the fag end of our tenure,” said Chandy.

Chandy said the 800 decisions, which the then opposition had termed as corrupt deals, had now come down to 46, “of which 18 are deals that cannot be cancelled. So let them go ahead with their probe”.

“What we hear now is that they are scrutinising the sanctioning of government-aided schools in the private sector for the mentally challenged, autistic children and those suffering from cerebral palsy. In this case, I am the culprit and I will appear before the probe official, the moment they launch a probe.

“In our state, while ordinary students studying in government schools get free education, there is only one school in the government sector for children suffering from these ailments. So it was me who decided to sanction such schools in the aided segment and I am prepared to answer all questions,” said Chandy.

His assertion comes as Thomas has decided to seek legal advice on the manner in which K.M. Mani, Finance Minister in Chandy’s government who quit following allegations of having received bribe to reopen closed down bars, got a clean chit in two separate probes conducted by the Vigilance Department after the allegation surfaced.